Quake causes deeper fears nationwide

By Jung Min-ho

When a magnitude 5.8 quake struck Korea’s southern regions a week ago, the Korean Meteorologist Administration (KMA) said it would likely subside after secondary tremors over the next three days or so.

On Monday night, however, a magnitude 4.5 quake rattled the regions again. Now, the KMA say it was just an aftershock from the previous quake, which was the most powerful since the nation started collecting records in 1978.

But public fears are growing over the possibility of additional tremors.

“I don’t believe them,” a 31-year-old Busan resident, surnamed Jang, said. “Some people say it might have been a foreshock and we may have to brace ourselves for a larger quake soon. The quake this time was weaker than the Sept. 12 one, but scarier.”

A foreshock is tremor occurring minutes to days or even longer before the main shock, and experts say this activity is detected for about 40 percent of all moderate to large earthquakes.

The Sept. 12 quake occurred unexpectedly, but when the one came Monday, many people were already gripped with fear.

“Some people left their houses immediately as if they knew it would come. Fears are growing over what may come next,” she said.

After some experts’ predictions that there would be no strong aftershocks turned out to be wrong, many people now distrust them. The government’s poor handling of the situation, including belated warning messages or no messages at all, has aggravated their concern.

A deeper anxiety and disbelief in the authorities’ capability to handle tremors has been spreading.

“Does Korea have earthquake experts? The fact that I cannot trust anyone makes me scared even more,” Jang said. “I’m really hoping that the quake was just an aftershock.”

Residents of Changwon, a city 90 kilometers away from Gyeongju, the epicenter of the quakes, also felt the shock. “I clearly felt it. I’m worried that Korea now has to deal with earthquakes like Japan always does,” a 28-year-old resident, surnamed Jae, said.

Some people in the affected regions stockpiled daily necessities, buying bottled water and ramen.

The quake on Monday temporarily halted some subway lines in Busan. High-speed KTX trains passing the affected areas had to run at slower speeds for about 30 minutes as a precaution.

Hyundai Motor’s manufacturing plant in Ulsan, another neighboring city of Gyeongju, also briefly stopped some of its production lines for safety checks.

At least 88 schools were damaged by the quake such as suffering cracks in walls, according to the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education.

An increasing number of schools across the country are now cancelling their field trip plans to the historic city of Gyeongju.

Meanwhile, politicians and many people living in the quake-affected area are raising their voices against nuclear power plants, which could cause massive fatalities in the case of stronger earthquakes.

According to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, all of the nation’s nuclear reactors remain intact despite the recent quakes. However, the fact that many are located near Gyeongju and Busan makes the residents afraid.

The power plants operator insists that Korea’s nuclear power plants can withstand an earthquake with a magnitude up to 7, but concerns are rising that their stability may be tested further.